The final blow. In a third report from the Egaé group, commissioned by Emmaüs France to shed light on the actions of Abbé Pierre, nine new testimonies implicate the priest – notably evoking rape of a minor and sexual assault of an incestuous nature. These revelations were transmitted on Monday January 13 to Emmaüs representatives in 40 countries via videoconference. This 19-page publication, which follows Egaé's first two reports on the actions of Abbé Pierre published respectively in July and September 2024, definitively buries the heroic image that the priest had enjoyed for seven decades.
In this report from the group co-founded by feminist activist Caroline de Haas, a complex personality emerges, manipulative and capable of threats to achieve her ends. The publication, detailing facts that occurred between the 1960s and 2000, notably reports “an act involving penetration of a minor boy”, a boy aged 9 at the time of the facts – who does not want the details of his testimony are clarified but “provided elements to attest to the veracity of his testimony”, specifies the report published on the Emmaüs website. A woman, a member of the priest's family, also confided having been the victim of incestuous abuse, committed “at the end of the 1990s” – when the priest was almost 90 years old. According to her, the priest touched her chest, forced a kiss and made comments of a sexual nature.
Victims from varied backgrounds
The other testimonies are reported by women who met Abbé Pierre in very varied circumstances: two caregivers, working in hospitals where he was treated; a flight attendant; an Emmaüs employee; a participant in a youth camp; a young woman working in a hotel where he was staying. All denounce touching of the chest, genitals, buttocks, forced kisses or acts of exhibition by the man who was considered an icon at the time.
In addition to these 9 new testimonies, the Egaé group announced that it had heard several people who had heard from victims of Abbé Pierre – the victims having died, or not wishing to testify, or not being able to be heard. “At least nine additional people (in addition to these 9 new testimonies, Editor’s note) were thus identified,” the report states. Among them, two stories concern two boys aged 8 to 10 years old, and would have taken place over periods before 1965.
A procedure
These elements, which present redundancies with the first two reports from the Egaé group, raise fears of what appears to be a real modus operandi on the part of a serial sexual attacker. In a first report published on July 17, also produced by the Egaé group at the joint request of Emmaüs and the Abbé Pierre Foundation, seven initial testimonies reported sexual assault in the form of forced touching and kissing. An initial psychological analysis by Abbé Pierre then suggested that older facts could come to the surface.
-Indeed, on September 6, 2024, a second damning report revealed 17 new testimonies, concerning acts allegedly committed between the 1950s and the 2000s in France, the United States, Morocco but also in Switzerland. The report then mentioned “unsolicited contacts on the breasts”, “forced kisses”, “forced fellatio”, “repeated sexual contacts on a vulnerable person”, “repeated acts of sexual penetration” or even “sexual contact with a child” – the youngest victim being 9 years old at the time of the incident.
Creation of a dedicated and permanent organization
Following the second report, many cities decided to rename the “Abbé Pierre streets”. The Abbé Pierre Foundation, co-sponsor of the report, announced a change of name “but no fight”, recalled Christophe Robert, general delegate of the foundation committed to fighting poor housing. In mid-December, the newspaper Le Monde published extracts from the priest's correspondence, revealing a personality tormented, even haunted by questions of sexuality from a very young age – going so far as to mutilate himself by cutting off his genitals.
In total, the listening system set up at the initiative of Emmaüs identified, in six months, 33 direct testimonies of sexual violence committed by Abbé Pierre. The Egaé firm has also identified more than twenty other facts, bringing the number of identified victims to at least 57. At the end of the other two, this third report was awaited as the last, thus closing Egaé's mission. “The Egaé group’s speech collection mission will end at the end of January, specifies the firm in an email sent to victims. From February, a dedicated and permanent organization will take over. »
In a press release published on January 13, the Conference of Bishops of France assured the victims of its proximity. “Realize that he used his media aura and the social work he had built – subsequently arousing the commitment of so many French people to the service of the poorest – to sexually abuse women, children, and people in precarious situations, is appalling. » The CEF also encourages each victim to get closer “if she wishes, from one of the Church’s listening or support systems; or the system put in place by Emmaüs, of which she would like to salute the work of truth that the movement has undertaken by listening to victims. »
Related News :